I had a neighbor who verbally abused his kids in public in the most vile
ways, and for reasons you and I would consider absurd. For instance, the son
was washing his dad's car one day, and working from the bottom up, which can
be a problem on a really filthy car because of the abrasive dirt that might
get transferred up higher as it clings to the sponge. The father stepped out
the front door, screamed obscenities, and called the kid all sorts of nasty
names. It was audible 10 houses away as we found out later. This sort of
thing went on all the time. The kids in that family are a total mess, and
according to the mom, there was no physical punishment.

And you never said a thing? At the very least I would have been
knocking on the door of the school counselor.
I had a neighbor who was in the habit of kicking his dogs, I called
the cops.He stopped. I would do the same for a child. I had a neighbor
who left her 8 year old home alone, I called the cops. She came
pounding on my door threatening to have me taken care of. Oh well.If I
thought there was abuse of any kind I would report it to someone. You
call the cops a few times when he is screaming and he would start
thinking. Cops don't like parents who abuse their children, neither do
I.

Peace to you, Dave